The Indigo Spell Chapter Six

I FOLLOWED MS. TERWILLIGER'S instructions diligently. I never took the garnet off, not even when I slept or showered. When school started the next morning, I wore it under my shirt to avoid any questions. It didn't exactly scream â€Å"magical amulet,† but it was certainly conspicuous. To my surprise, Ms. Terwilliger wasn't in her first-period history class, making me wonder if she was doing some investigating of her own. â€Å"Ms. T on some secret mission?† I flinched and realized I'd been lost in my own thoughts. I turned and found Trey Juarez kneeling by my desk. Class hadn't started yet, and a confused-looking substitute teacher was trying to make sense of the chaos of Ms. Terwilliger's desk. Trey grinned at my surprise. â€Å"Wh-what?† I asked. Had he somehow found out about Veronica? I tried to keep cool. â€Å"What makes you say that?† â€Å"I was just joking,† he said. â€Å"This is the second year I've had her, and she's never missed a day.† He gave me a puzzled look. â€Å"Unless you really do know something I don't?† â€Å"No,† I said quickly. â€Å"I'm just as surprised as you are.† Trey scrutinized me a few moments. We were good friends here at Amberwood, with only one teeny-tiny problem hanging between us. His family was tied to the Warriors of Light. Last month, the Warriors had tried to kill Sonya in a barbaric execution ritual. Trey had been one of the contenders for the â€Å"honor† of killing her, though he'd thrown the match at the last minute. I'd tried to appeal to the Warriors to release Sonya, but they hadn't listened. She and I were both saved when a raiding party of dhampirs showed up and defeated the Warriors. Stanton had helped orchestrate that raid – but hadn't bothered to fill me in that I was being used as a distraction. It was part of what had fueled my distrust of her and the Alchemists. Trey had been blamed for getting me involved with the ritual, and the Warriors had ostracized his father and him. Just as I had been pressured by the Alchemists, Trey had had Warrior doctrine drilled into him his whole life. His father was so ashamed of the fallout that he would barely speak to Trey now. I knew how much Trey wanted his father's approval, so this silence was more painful to him than the Warriors' treatment. Our allegiances made things difficult. When I'd once tentatively hinted to Trey that we still had unresolved issues between us, he'd responded with a bitter laugh. â€Å"You have nothing to worry about anymore,† he'd told me. â€Å"I'm not hiding any secret plans from you – because I don't know any. They won't tell us anything. I'm not one of them, as far as they're concerned. I've been cut off forever, and it'd take a miracle for them to ever take us back.† There'd been something in his dark eyes that told me if he ever could find that miracle, he'd jump on it. I'd tried asking about that, but he wouldn't discuss it any further. â€Å"I want to be your friend, Melbourne,† he had said. â€Å"I like you. We're never going to resolve our differences. Might as well ignore them since we have to be together every day.† Amazingly, our friendship had managed to survive all that drama. The tension was always there, lurking between us, but we tried to ignore it. Although he knew about my involvement in the vampiric world, he had no idea I was taking behind-the-scenes magic lessons with our history teacher, of course. If he thought I was lying about Ms. Terwilliger's absence today, he didn't push the matter. He nodded toward the sub. â€Å"This is going to be a blow-off day.† I dragged my mind away from magical intrigue. After being homeschooled for most of my life, some parts of the â€Å"normal† school world were a mystery. â€Å"What's that mean, exactly?† â€Å"Usually teachers leave subs a lesson plan, telling them what to do. I saw the one Ms. Terwilliger left. It said, ‘Distract them.'† Trey shook his head in mock sympathy. â€Å"I hope you can handle the wasted academic time. I mean, she'll probably say something like, ‘Work on homework.' But no one will.† He was right. I wasn't sure if I could handle this. â€Å"Why wouldn't they?† This seemed to amuse him immensely. â€Å"Melbourne, sometimes you're the only reason I come to class. I saw her sub plan for your independent study, by the way. It said you didn't even have to stick around. You're free to run wild.† Eddie, sitting nearby, overheard and scoffed. â€Å"To the library?† This made both of them laugh, but my mind was already spinning with possibilities. If I really didn't have to stay for my last class, I'd be free to leave campus early. I could go into Los Angeles to look for Veronica and – no. Adrian wasn't back. For a moment, I toyed with the idea of investigation without his spirit magic, but Ms. Terwilliger's warnings echoed through my mind. The hunt would have to wait. But I could still look for Marcus Finch. Santa Barbara was two hours away. That meant I had enough time to drive up there, do some investigating of Marcus, and still comfortably make it back by the school's curfew. I hadn't intended to go look for him until this weekend but realized now that I shouldn't waste this opportunity. Ms. Terwilliger's task weighed heavily on me as well, but I couldn't do anything about it until Adrian returned tonight. Marcus Finch had been a mystery to me since the moment I'd discovered he was an ex-Alchemist. Realizing that I might actually get some answers today made my heart pound in overtime. It was one thing to suspect the Alchemists had been holding out on me. It was an entirely different matter to accept that I might be on the verge of having those suspicions confirmed. It was actually kind of terrifying. As the day progressed, I became more and more resolved to make the drive. I had to face this sooner or later, and I might as well get it over with. For all I knew, Marcus had simply been sightseeing in Santa Barbara and could be gone already. I didn't want to repeat the scrying spell if I could help it. Sure enough, when I showed up for what would normally be my independent study at the end of the day, the sub (looking extremely worn out after a day of following in Ms. Terwilliger's footsteps) told me I was free to go. I thanked her and hurried off to my dorm room, conscious of the clock that was now ticking. I didn't know exactly what I'd be facing in Santa Barbara, but I planned to be prepared for anything. I changed out of my Amberwood uniform, opting for jeans and a plain black blouse. Kneeling by my bed, I pulled out a large metal box from underneath it. At first glance, the box looked like a makeup kit. However, it had an intricate lock that required both a key and combination. Inside was my Alchemist chemistry set, a collection of chemicals that would probably get me kicked out of school if found since it looked like it was capable of manufacturing illegal drugs. And really, some of the compounds probably were pretty questionable. I selected some basics. One was a formula that was usually used to dissolve Strigoi bodies. I didn't expect to encounter any Strigoi in Santa Barbara, but the compound could also be used to disintegrate metal pretty handily. I chose a couple other mixtures – like one that could create a spy-worthy smoke screen – and carefully wrapped them all up before slipping them into my messenger bag. Then I locked the box again and slid it back under the bed. After a little consideration, I took a deep breath and produced another hidden box. This was a new one in my collection. It contained various charms and potions I'd made under Ms. Terwilliger's instruction. Staring at its contents, I felt my stomach twist. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I'd have such a kit. When we'd first met, I'd only created charms under duress. Now I had several that I'd willingly made, and if what she'd said about her sister was true, I'd need to start making more. With great reluctance, I picked a variety of these as well and packed them up with the Alchemist chemicals. After a moment's consideration, I put a couple in my pocket for quick access. The drive to Santa Barbara was easy this time of day December had cooled off some of southern California's weather, but the sun was still out, making it seem warmer than it really was. And, as I drove up the coast, the desert gave way to more temperate conditions. Rain increased in the middle and northern parts of the state this time of year, making the landscape lush and green. I really did love Palm Springs and Amberwood, but there were times I wouldn't have minded if Jill's assignment had taken us up here. Finding the Old Mission Santa Barbara wasn't difficult. It was a well-known tourist attraction and pretty easy to spot once you were nearby. The sprawling church looked exactly as it had in my vision save that it was lit by mid-afternoon sunshine rather than twilight. I pulled off to the side of the road in a residential neighborhood and gazed up at the beautiful stucco and terra-cotta masterpiece. I wished I had the time to go on a tour, but, as they so often did, my personal desires had to take a backseat to a larger goal. Now came the more difficult part – having to figure out where the studio I'd seen might be. The neighborhood I parked in provided a view that was similar to the one I'd observed in the spell. The angles weren't exact, however, and this street only contained houses. I was almost certain the studio I'd seen had been in an apartment building. Keeping the mission in view, I drove a few more streets over and found what I'd hoped for: several blocks containing apartment complexes. One looked too nice to have what I'd seen. The studio had seemed pretty bare bones and run down. The other two buildings on the street looked like more likely candidates. I drove to each one and walked around their grounds, trying to imagine what the angle might be when viewed from a higher window. I wished I'd had a chance to actually look down to the parking lot in the vision. It would have given me a better idea of the floor. After much thought, I finally deduced the studio had been on the third or fourth floor. Since one of the buildings only had two floors, that gave me a pretty positive hit on the correct place. Stepping inside the building made me glad I'd packed hand sanitizer in my bag. The halls looked like they hadn't been swept in over a year. The walls were dirty, their paint chipped. Bits of trash sat on the floor. Cobwebs hung in some of the corners, and I prayed spiders were the only creepy-crawly inhabitants. If I saw a roach, I was probably going to bolt. The building had no front desk I could make inquiries at, so I flagged down a middle-aged woman as she was leaving. She paused, regarding me warily. â€Å"Hi,† I said, hoping I looked non-threatening. â€Å"I'm trying to find a friend of mine, but I don't know which apartment he lives in. Maybe you know him? His name is Marcus. He has a blue tattoo on his face.† Seeing her blank look, I repeated the question in Spanish. Comprehension showed in her expression, but once she'd heard my entire question, her only response was a brief headshake. I didn't even have time to show her Marcus's picture. I spent the next half hour doing the same thing whenever I saw residents going in or out. I stayed outside this time, preferring a brightly lit public area to the dingy interior. Some of the people I talked to were a little sketchy, and a couple of guys looked me over in a way I definitely didn't like. I was about to give up when a younger boy approached me. He appeared to be about ten and had been playing in the parking lot. â€Å"I know the guy you're looking for,† he told me in English. â€Å"But his name's not Marcus. It's Dave.† Considering how difficult Marcus had been to find, I wasn't entirely surprised he'd been using another name. â€Å"You're sure?† I asked the boy. I showed him the picture. â€Å"This is the guy?† He nodded eagerly. â€Å"That's the one. He's real quiet. My mom says he's probably doing bad things.† Great. Just what I needed. â€Å"Do you know where he lives?† The boy pointed upward. â€Å"At the top. 407.† I thanked him and went back inside, heading up to the fourth floor on stairs that creaked the entire way. The apartment was near the end of the hall, next to one that was blasting obnoxious music. I knocked on 407 and didn't get a response. Not sure if the occupant had heard me, I knocked more loudly and received the same result. I eyed the doorknob, considering melting it with my Alchemist chemicals. Immediately, I dismissed the thought. Even in a disreputable building like this, a neighbor might be concerned to see me breaking into an apartment. I didn't want to attract any attention. This situation was getting increasingly frustrating, and I couldn't spend all day here. I ran through my choices. Everyone said I was so smart. Surely there was some solution here that would work? Waiting around in the hall wasn't an option. There was no telling how long it could take for Marcus or â€Å"Dave† to show up. And honestly, the less time spent in the dirty hall, the better. If only there was some way to get inside that didn't involve actually destroying – That's when the solution came to me. I groaned. It wasn't one I liked, but it would get the job done. I went back outside and waved hello to the boy as he practiced jumping off the steps. â€Å"Was Dave home?† he asked. â€Å"No.† The boy nodded. â€Å"He usually isn't.† That, at least, would be helpful for this next crazy plan. I left the boy and walked around the side of the building, which was mercifully deserted. There, clinging to the outer wall, was the most rickety fire escape I'd ever seen. Considering how rigid California safety standards were, I was astonished that this hadn't been reported. Of course, if it had, it didn't seem likely this building's owner would've been quick to act, judging from the rest of the conditions I'd seen. Double checking that no one was around, I stood in the fire escape's shadow, hoping it more or less concealed me. From the messenger bag, I produced one of my charms: a necklace made of agate and crow feathers. I slipped it over my head and recited a Greek incantation. I felt the warmth of magic run through me but saw no ostensible changes. Theoretically, I should be invisible for those who didn't know to look for me. Whether that had actually happened, I couldn't say. I supposed I'd find out if someone came by and demanded to know why I was climbing into an apartment via the fire escape. Once I stepped onto it, I nearly terminated the plan. The entire fire escape squeaked and swayed. The scaffolding was so rusty, I wouldn't have been surprised if it disintegrated beneath my feet. I stood frozen where I was, trying to work up the courage to go on. I reminded myself that this could be my one chance to find Marcus. The boy in the parking lot had confirmed he lived here. I couldn't waste this opportunity. I gulped and kept going, gingerly moving from floor to floor. When I reached the fourth, I stared down in amazement, unable to believe the fire escape was still intact. Now I had a new problem. I'd figured out where Marcus's studio was, and it was one window over from the fire escape's landing. The distance wasn't that great, but on the narrow ledge between them would feel like miles. Equally daunting was the fact that I'd have to get through the window. It was shut, which made sense if he was in hiding. I had a couple magical amulets capable of melting glass, but I didn't trust myself to be able to use them on the narrow ledge – which meant I had to see just how good my aim had become in PE. Still conscious of the precarious fire escape, I took out a small pouch of powder from my messenger bag. Sizing up the distance, I threw the pouch hard toward the window, reciting a spell – and missed. The pouch hit the side of the building, throwing up a dusty cloud, and began eating away at the stucco. I winced as the wall dissolved. The spell eventually burned itself out but left a noticeable hole behind. It hadn't gone all the way through, and I supposed given the state of the building, no one would probably even notice. I had one pouch left and had to make it count. The pane was fairly big, and there was no way I could miss this time. I threw hard – and made contact. The powder smashed against the window. Immediately, a reaction spread out and began melting the glass. It dripped down like ice out in the sun. Now, watching anxiously, I wanted the reaction to go on for as long as possible. I needed a big enough hole to get through. Fortunately, when it stopped, I felt confident I could make it inside – if I could get over there. I wasn't afraid of heights, but as I crept along the ledge, I felt like I was on top of a skyscraper. My heart was in my throat, and I pondered the logistics of surviving a four-floor drop. My palms began to sweat, and I ordered them to stop. I wasn't going to come all this way just to have my hands slip at the last minute. As it turned out, it was my foot that slipped. The world spun, and I frantically flung my arms out, just barely grabbing the inside of the window. I pulled myself toward it, and with a surge of adrenaline-fueled effort managed to hook my other leg inside. I took a deep breath and tried to quiet my pounding heart. I was secure. I was going to make it. A moment later, I was able to pull myself up and swing my other leg around the ledge, tumbling into the room. I landed on the floor, my legs weak and shaky as I worked to steady my frantic breathing. That was close. If my reflexes had been a little slower, I would've found out exactly what four floors could do to the human body. While I loved science, I wasn't sure that was an experiment I needed to try. Maybe being around dhampirs so much had helped improve my physical skills. Once I'd recovered, I was able to assess my surroundings. Here I was, in the exact same studio I'd seen in my vision. Glancing behind me, I sized up the mission, verifying I had the same vantage. Yup. Exactly the same. Inside, I recognized the mattress on the floor and the same meager belongings. Across the room, the door leading out had a number of very new, very state-of-the-art locks. Dissolving the outer doorknob wouldn't have done any good. â€Å"Now what?† I muttered. I'd made it inside. I didn't have Marcus, but I theoretically had his apartment. I was unsure what I was looking for but might as well start somewhere. First, I examined the mattress, not that I expected much. It couldn't hide belongings like mine could. It could, however, hide rats and God only knew what else underneath it. I gingerly lifted a corner, knowing I must be grimacing, but there was nothing underneath – alive or otherwise. My next target was a small, disorderly pile of clothes. Going through someone's dirty laundry (because I assumed it was dirty, if it was sitting on the floor) wasn't much better than looking at the mattress. A whiff of fabric softener told me that these clothes were, in fact, recently washed. They were ordinary guy clothes, probably a young guy's clothes, which fit with Marcus's profile. Jeans. T-shirts. Boxers. As I sifted through the pile, I nearly started folding them and had to remind myself that I didn't want to leave any sign of my passing. Of course, the melted window was kind of a dead giveaway. A couple of personal items sat nearby, a toothbrush and deodorant with a scent inexplicably called as â€Å"Ocean Fiesta.† Aside from a rickety wooden chair and the ancient TV, there was only one other form of comfort and entertainment in the barren room: a battered copy of The Catcher in the Rye. â€Å"Great,† I muttered, wondering what it said about a person who owned no other personal possessions. â€Å"Marcus Finch is pretentious and self-entitled.† The studio's bathroom was claustrophobic and barely had enough space for a single shower stall, toilet, and dripping sink. Judging from the mildew on the floor, a good deal of water sprayed out when the shower was used. A large black spider scurried down the drain, and I hastily backed out. Defeated, I went to investigate a narrow closet door. After all my work, I'd found Marcus Finch but hadn't actually found him. My search had revealed nothing. I had limited time to wait for him, and honestly, if I were him and returned home to a melted window, I would promptly walk out the door and never return. If he ran, I'd have no choice but to keep scrying and – â€Å"Ahh!† Something jumped out at me as I opened the closet door – and it wasn't a rat or a roach. It was a man. The closet was tiny, so it was a miracle he had even fit inside. I had no time to process the spatial logistics, however, because his fist shot out and clipped me on the side of the face. In my life, I'd been slammed up against brick walls and bitten by a Strigoi. I'd never been punched, however, and it wasn't an experience I wanted to repeat. I stumbled backward, so surprised that I couldn't even react right away. The guy lunged after me, grabbing my upper arms and shaking me as he leaned close. â€Å"How did you guys find me?† he exclaimed. â€Å"How many more are coming?† Pain radiated through the side of my face, but somehow, I managed to gather my senses. Last month, I'd taken a self-defense class with a slightly unstable Chihuahua breeder who looked like a pirate. Despite Malachi Wolfe's unorthodox behavior, he'd actually taught us some legitimate skills, and they came back to me now. I kneed my attacker in the stomach. His blue eyes went wide with shock as he released me and fell to the ground. It didn't keep him down for long, though. He scrambled back to his feet and came after me, but by then, I'd grabbed the chair and was using it to keep him at bay the way a lion tamer would. â€Å"Back off,† I said. â€Å"I just want to – â€Å" Ignoring my threats, the guy pushed forward and grabbed one of the chair's legs, pulling it away from me. He had me backed into a corner, and despite some tricks Eddie had taught me, I wasn't confident in my own ability to throw a punch. Nonetheless, I put up a good fight when my attacker tried to grab me again. We struggled and fell to the floor. I kicked and clawed like crazy, making things as difficult as possible. It was only when he managed to pin me with his entire body that my flailing got stifled. I had enough freedom to reach a hand into my pocket, however. â€Å"Who sent you?† he demanded. â€Å"Where are the others?† I didn't answer. Instead, I pulled out a small vial and flipped the cap off with one hand. Immediately, noxious yellow vapor with the consistency of dry ice spilled out of it. I thrust it toward the guy's face. He recoiled in disgust, and tears sprang into his eyes. The substance itself was relatively harmless, but its fumes acted as a kind of pepper spray. He let go of me, and with strength I didn't even know I had, I managed to roll him over and hold him down. I drove my elbow into his wrist, and he made a small grunt of pain. With my other arm, I waved the vial with as much menace as I would a machete. This wouldn't fool him for long, but hopefully it'd buy me some time to reassess my situation. Now that he was still, I was finally able to get a good look at him and was relieved to see I'd at least achieved my goal. He had a young, handsome face with an indigo tattoo on his cheek. It was an abstract design that looked like a latticework of crescent moons. A faint silver gleam edge d some of the blue lines. â€Å"Nice to meet you, Marcus.† Then, the most astonishing thing happened. Through his watering eyes, he'd been trying to get a good look at me too. Recognition appeared on his face as he blinked me into focus. â€Å"Sydney Sage,† he gasped. â€Å"I've been looking for you.† I didn't have any time to be surprised because I suddenly heard the click of a gun, and a barrel touched the back of my head. â€Å"Get off him,† a voice demanded. â€Å"And drop the smoke bomb.†

The Virtue of Forgiveness

The Virtue of Forgiveness Under the circumstances, the human may rush in making his decisions, so the consequences will be more negative than the actions resulting from these decisions, so it will be better if he does not make these decisions. It's important for man to pardon so he can cope up with the milieu he is living; We stop here to mention some features of the Prophets (blessing and peace be upon him) forgiveness in his dealing with people. These are useful and great lessons in every place and time.Forgiveness is when someone refrains from retaliating, although he is capable of doing so. This is one of the qualities that reflect perfection of manners and nobility of character. ‘Aa`ishah said: â€Å"It was never that the Prophet had a choice between two matters but he chose the easiest of the two, as long as it was not something displeasing to Allaah, and if it was a sin, then he was the farthest from it. Further, never did he take revenge for anything personal, unless i t had to do with the commandments of and limits set by Allaah. Additionally, on the day of the bloodless conquest of Makkah, although he was capable of punishing and killing them, the Prophet pardoned the people of the Quraysh, despite the torture and crimes they had committed against him and his companions in the earlier days of Islaam. Furthermore, a Jewish woman came to Muhammad and offered him poisoned sheep’s meat to eat, but, miraculously, the meat warned the Prophet against consuming it. When he discovered what she had done, he asked for her motive, to which she replied: â€Å"I wanted to kill you. † Thereupon, he said to her: â€Å"Never may Allaah enable you to do so. Then his companions asked: â€Å"Should we kill her? † He replied: â€Å"No. † Overlook people `s fault with gracious forgiveness The Prophet (blessing and peace be upon him) takes (the) forgiveness from the Holy Qur’an, Allah the Almighty said: â€Å"{ So overlook ( O Muha mmad ) their faults with gracious forgiveness },{ Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the foolish ( i. e. don't punish them ) }, { Who   repress anger, and who pardon men; verily,   Allah loves Al-Muhsinun   ( the good-doers ) }, and { And verily, whosoever shows patience and forgives, that would truly be from the things recommended y Allah. }† The Prophet (blessing and peace be upon him) says about the virtue of pardoning:†I saw palaces overlooking Paradise so I asked Jibril, who are those palaces for? He said: â€Å"Who repress anger and pardon men†. Mu’adh Ibn Jabal l said:† When the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen he said: â€Å"Jibril kept advising me for pardoning â€Å"forgiving† people, hadn’t I firm knowledge of Allah, I would say he recommends me to leave hudud (the prescribed punishments)†.The Prophet said: â€Å"Whoever controls his anger at the time when he has the means to act upon th at, Allah will call him before all of mankind on the Day of Resurrection, and will let him choose of the Hur al-‘Ayn whoever he wants. † prophet muhammad (pbuh) is the ultimate human example on being patient with one's wife(s). in spite of his highness at allah's sight and at people's, it has never been heard of a man who had more patience with his wife(s). researching prophet muhammad's patience, you will come across enough evidence.He used to treat them kindly. lady ‘a’isha, may allah be pleased with her, said: â€Å"prophet muhammad (pbuh) told me: â€Å"i can tell when you are pleased with me and when you are not. † i said: â€Å"how can you tell? † he said: â€Å"if you are pleased with me you swear saying: â€Å"no, by muhammad's lord† and if you are not, you swear saying: â€Å"no, by abraham's lord. â€Å"† she said: â€Å"yes by allah, prophet of allah. i can only abandon your name. † this saying ‘hadith' is from al bukhari. nas, may allah be pleased with him, reported: â€Å"the prophet of allah (pbuh) was with one of his wives then another wife sent him a plate of food. the one that the prophet was at her home hit the hand of the servant who was carrying the plate. it fell down and broke into two pieces. the prophet collected the broken pieces and the food and said: â€Å"your mother [his wife] is jealous. † he then kept the servant until he brought a new plate from the wife who broke the plate to give it to the other wife and kept the broken one at the home of the one who broke it. † narrated by al bukhari

Edgar Allan Poe Works Essay

Edgar Allan Poe said â€Å"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.† Throughout his short stories; â€Å"The Black Cat† and â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, Poe sets up his characters to subconsciously reveal their insanity. Often using syntax clues and patterns, Poe shows the madness of the narrators of his short stories. The constant theme of denial of insanity further convinces the reader of the character’s psychosis. Characters themselves often prove they are not in touch with reality through their actions. Through syntax, denial of insanity, and character’s actions, Poe allows his narrators in â€Å"The Black Cat† and â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† to reveal their own insanity. Sentence structure is used consistently by Poe in his short stories to aid in his character’s revealing their own insanity. When the narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† is listing the pets he and his wife have, the last one he lists is a c at. â€Å"We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.† (Poe H/O) The cat is italicized, causing the reader to wonder why the emphasis is so important. As the reader progresses through the rest of the story, it becomes evident that the cat is of a strong significance to the narrator. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, the narrator has some sort of disease that heightens his senses. He also has a type of obsessive compulsive disorder, causing him to fixate on his roommate’s clouded eye. In the beginning of the story, he says â€Å"I think it was his eye!-yes, it was this!† (Poe H/O) The short choppy thought pattern here shows the mind of the narrator is less than sound. While in â€Å"The Black Cat†, the syntax proof is less obvious, though foreshadowing the story by placing such a subtle hint as to how much the cat really matters in the rest of the story, the grammatical clues in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† are much more obvious because they pertain more to the thoughts of the narrator. Listening and paying attention t o how speakers and narrators in talk in any text are vital in understanding their character. By noting how Poe uses grammar and context clues, readers can more deeply understand the mind of the narrator. Syntax isn’t the only way Poe manipulates his narrators to show their own madness. The constant theme of denial of insanity further convinces the reader of the characters’ senselessness. Poe, in â€Å"The Black Cat† writes â€Å"Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad I am not – and surely do I not dream.†(H/O). Here, the narrator of â€Å"The Black Cat† states that it is possible for his actions and thought process to be interpreted as mad, still in his mind, he is not mad at all. By denying his insanity, the narrator creates a suspicion in the reader, making them question the integrity of his mind. The narrator of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is more adamant about repeating the fact that he is not insane. â€Å"†¦will you say that I am mad?†¦I have heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?† (Poe H/O) The narrator obviously worries about the fact that people may see him as a lunatic. The reader can infer that by denying his lack of sanity, and clinging to the hope that he may in fact have a sound mind; the narrator has lost all sense of reality, and cannot be trusted. Both of these stories have similar narrators in the sense that they may have once been sane, and a traumatic event has pushed them over the edge into the depths of derangement. While the above points may be valid and prove a point, nothing really shows who someone is more than what he or she may do. The character’s actions in multiple short stories by Poe show that they are not in touch with reality. The short story â€Å"The Black Cat† may have the best example of them all. When the narrator of this tale is hanging his precious, beloved cat, Pluto, he is well aware of his actions, and yet, he cannot stop himself from performing this murderous deed. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; – hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; – hung it because I knew that it had loved be, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offense; – hung it because I knew that in so doing, I was committing a sin – a deadly sin that would so jeopardise my immortal soul as to place it – if such a thing were possible – even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God. (Poe H/O)

The Role of Government in Economic Recession, Fiscal Policy Essay

The Role of Government in Economic Recession, Fiscal Policy - Essay Example Government spending in the 2nd quarter increased by 11% and this spending affected the car industry and the housing market. Inventory also declined in this quarter and this reduced the GDP by 1.39%, however when aggregate demand increases the inventory level is also expected to increase. According to the congress budget office the 3rd and 4th quarter level of GDP is expected to improve due to increased government spending and a 1.6% growth rate is expected. However the recovery process is expected to take longer given that those consumers are faced with high unemployment rate, high debt levels and restricted borrowing. (Alan Rapperport (2009)) The article highlights the role of government in a recession, a recession is characterized by high unemployment rate, declining GDP level and reduced aggregate demand, from the article expansionary fiscal policy has been used to aid the economy out of the recession. However this has resulted into budget deficits which are expected to reach 11.6% of GDP this year. Fiscal policies include government spending and taxation, in a recession an expansionary fiscal policies is used, this policy measure involves increased government spending that help increase aggregate demand. ... above diagram as the level of government spending is increased then the aggregate demand curve shifts upward from aggregate demand 1 to aggregate demand 2, this results into an increase in the level of GDP from Y1 to Y2. From the US economy case the government has increased the level of spending in order to increase the level of employment and GDP. This is evident where the level of GDP in the 3rd and 4th quarter is expected to increase and the decline in new unemployment benefits claims and the reduction of in the unemployment benefit individuals. (Alan Rapperport (2009)) Increased government spending results into high inflationary pressure in the economy, as a result monetary policies that aim at reducing the inflationary pressure are used, these policies include increasing interest rates and increasing reserve ratios. From the article it is evident that the monetary policy rule used is restricted borrowing which aids in reducing the inflationary pressure. (Phillip Hardwick (2002)) Conclusion: The above analysis shows the role of fiscal policies in a recession, it analysis the policy measures that the US government has undertaken and their impacts. It is evident that the level of government spending has increased and this has resulted into increased budget deficit. This measure has helped reduce the level of unemployment in the economy and also has stimulated aggregate demand. The recovery process is expected to take longer given that consumers are faced with restricted borrowing, increased debts and high unemployment. Reference: Alan Rapperport (2009) US GDP contracts by 1% in Second Quarter: published august 27th 2009 Phillip Hardwick (2002) Introduction to modern economics. Prentice Hall publishers: New Jersey. Article 2: This article

Critically discuss the key elements of positive practice relationships Essay

Critically discuss the key elements of positive practice relationships with children and their families. To what extent are they influenced by different settings in childrens services - Essay Example According to Cohrssen, Church and Tayler, â€Å"close relationships enable early childhood professionals to better understand individual children and their broader cultural contexts† (n.d., p. 4). Accustomed engagement between a grown up and an infant is a feature of a responsive relationship. Responsive engagement comes inform of caring. According to Cohrssen, Church and Tayler, â€Å"throughout the early years, learning takes place in the context of relationships; the relationship between a teacher and a child may have a special influence on children’s development† (n.d., p. 7). The child teaching practice in this case begins from the parent and family member. Tassoni (2005) urges that for children to feel nurtured and valued, the way in which they are handled should change according to the child’s need. The environment where we live and operate has a great impact in our lives. Equally for children, their living and operating environment has a great influence in their lives and must be ensured, safe and healthy. The child’s physical environment is full of potential and opportunities for them to learn about things, people and other children. This learning can inspire, encourage or challenge the child. It is therefore the duty of educators to make this environment comfortable and interesting to children, thus providing a rich opportunity for children to achieve experience, learn and develop. Early childhood assessment includes making observation, documenting and making other assessment strategies. According to Couchenour and Chrisman â€Å"effective teaching of young children begins with thoughtful, appreciative, systematic observation and documentation of each of the child’s unique qualities, strengths, and needs† (2013, p. 339). Proper observation gives proper insight on how children develop and respond to opportunities and challenges in their lives. In recent times,

How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers Research Paper

How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers - Research Paper Example Roche develops global managers through global rotation program called Perspectives program. Employees with MBAs or PhD degree can participate in this international career program that consists of four assignments each lasting six months. Each assignment is taken in a different country, or laboratory and 95 percent of all participants have completed the program successfully. How Roche diagnostics develops global managers Who is responsible for developing global leaders The organization has the responsibility of developing global leaders. The management and the human resource department should initiate strategies and career development programs in order to develop global leaders (Smilansky, 2006). The global marketplace requires employees with multiple skills like communication capability and ability to understand the global business culture. Global organizations operate in multiple locations and usually provide goods and services that are suitable for the particular national market an d which consider the culture of the country (Smilansky, 2006). The parent country and host country should cooperate by allowing work permit for global managers in order to create a pool of talented global leaders. Global organizations require marketing strategies that consider flexibility due to the differences in market needs and culture of the people. Additionally, business schools have a role to play in highlighting the global economy and cultures of different locations in the world. Advanced business degrees should focus on real business experiences of multiple international business locations (Smilansky, 2006). Ramifications of not having global leaders In my profession field, there are various ramifications of not having global leaders in the marketing field. Global leaders influence the marketing and global brand management strategies selected by the organization due to cultural issues in different locations. There will be limited opportunities for professional growth and car eer advancement and organizations will experience high labor turnover and inability to attract and retain multi-skilled employees (Smilansky, 2006). Without global leaders, the language selected in advertisements and promotional materials will not fit the culture of the location since some countries like Japanese prefer a high-context language and direct messages, unlike low-context cultures (Smilansky, 2006). Without global leaders, an organization will not understand the values and attitudes of consumers in a particular location. The organization will also fail in new product design and packaging since aesthetics such as taste, smell and size influence the attitudes of the consumers towards a product depending on their culture (McCall & Hollenbeck, 2002). Such organizations will lose market share and ultimately decline the productivity of the product in particular locations. Without the global leaders, the organization will not understand the unique needs and preferences of consum ers and the needs of the workforce thus leading to decline in market share (McCall & Hollenbeck, 2002). US public policy changes that can encourage companies to develop global leaders Roche’s Perspectives program invests many resources in the development of global leaders, but there are public policy changes which can be made in the U.S to encourage compani

Incident at Oglala Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Incident at Oglala - Movie Review Example This film does an excellent job at unpacking exactly what happened on that fateful day in the 1970s, and presenting many sides of the issue, it fails to address the wider concerns of colonization and dehumanization that really plagued the reservation system, and the systemic violence that allows this type of incident to occur, or even worse, encourages them. This film has many excellent attributes. Probably the best thing about it is that it features heavy use of first person recounts of what happened that day, from everyone involved, including Leonard Peltier, the man eventually (and probably wrongfully) convicted of the murders. This allows the viewer to understand the complexity of the situation, and the emotions that were so prevalent for everyone involved. This also forms an excellent story telling technique, allowing the audience to see first-hand the he said/she said dynamic that occurred in the aftermath of the shooting, including at trial. This technique demonstrates the impossibility of ever fully knowing what occurred when a violent event happened, and the fact that a balance of contradictory evidence must be sought to render a decision. This also removes the idea, so prevalent in many documentaries, that there is an absolute truth that the documentary is trying to expose. It gives the impression that this documentary is trying to truly unpack what happened, and present all sides of the evidence to the viewer, rather than simply trying to sway their mind. This makes it seem more well rounded than other documentaries like Fahrenheit 911 or Bowling for Columbine, which establish a villain and then try to undermine them. Another excellent aspect of this documentary is that it does not get tied up in the minutia of what actually happened during the shooting, but moves on to proximate causes of it. Instead of, for instance, spending a great deal of time on the unanswerable question of who shot first, or how the shootout occurred, it

Analyze Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyze - Movie Review Example The setting of this book spans the time before and during the colonization of Nigeria. Things Fall Apart demonstrates how the colonizer conquers the colonized through hegemonic apparatuses, particularly, appropriating natural resources and political systems, feeding inter- and intra-tribal cultural conflicts, promoting the colonizer’s ideology as morally superior, and subverting African ideology by rewriting African history and identity. The colonizers are the European Christians who use hegemonic measures to conquer Nigerians, the colonized, one of which is through appropriating the latter’s natural resources and political systems. Hegemony refers to ideological domination wherein one worldview dominates or represses another ideology (Said 7). Stuart Hall defines ideology as the images, concepts, and principles that build the worldview by which people represents, understand, and make sense of one aspect of their social existence (271). The colonizer refers to a social group that dominates the colonized because of economic and political advantages in controlling the people and the resources of the latter. Gramsci talks about a social class that dominates others by force and consent because of political and economic outcomes (211), and the Europeans in Nigeria are examples of a dominating social class. The colonized suffers from the appropriation of their economic, political, and social resources and systems f rom colonizers who use them and their resources as means to self-serving ends. In Things Fall Apart, the Christians appropriate the natural resources of the tribes by taking away their lands, either by violence or through their missionaries. The Umuofia clan, for instance, has an Evil Forest that people fear and where the Christian missionaries build their church to prove that the former’s gods and goddesses are false. In other tribes, the novel narrates how the Europeans simply

Discourse Community Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Discourse Community Analysis - Essay Example A very good example of an exclusive language can be found in the military. Whereas the officers use â€Å"good English† for their commands and among themselves, the recruits and lower cadre officers at the â€Å"club house† use pidgin which has the potential of expression informality and high level of intimacy of role relations. (Alabi, T., n.d.) This is the usual set-up of communication in the military. The men in the military speak a different language at work than at home. If civilian men are difficult to understand by nature, military men are even more difficult to understand. This is because the military has its own language. The men communicate with words and sometimes with their actions. Each branch of the military also has its own â€Å"lingo†. For example, the word â€Å"camouflage† uniform is called â€Å"cammies† for the Marines and the Navy but â€Å"fatigues† for the Army. Each division the military has its own nickname. A jarhead refers to a Marine. They say this is because the head of a marine looks like a jar. A squid is someone from the Navy. The connection is very obvious, I believe. Top Gun refers to an Air Force member. Finally, those in the army are called dogs. By their terms, one can already see how exclusive and proud military men are with regards to their branch of service. Of course there are also some words used by all branches of the military like CO which means commanding officer. Brass refers to officers because of the many awards (made of metal) pinned on their uniforms. These pins distinguish them from the members in the lower ranks. AO means area of operation. This is any place you’re supposed to work at. Bird doesn’t mean an animal that flies but a plane. Mess hall or chow hall is their word for dining room. Ultimately, a john wayne isn’t a person or an actor but a can opener. Indeed, language in the military is something an outsider has to be ready for. Otherwise, an outsider may act

Income Inequality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Income Inequality - Essay Example The main reason he foresaw an evolution was due to the recurrent nature of income inequality. In an income inequality situation, the richer keep getting richer due to a better income, while the poor keep getting poorer. The gap between the top earners and the low-income earners keeps widening in an income inequality situation. In America, almost 95% of the national wealth is under 5% ownership; this situation leaves 95% of the population to scrounge for the limited 5% wealth (DeNavas et. Al, 2005). For economic inequality study, a family makes the ideal study unit. In the study, the family’s income is under analysis, and then the family members ranked from the lowest income earner to the highest income earner. After the ranking, the incomes aid in establishing a Lorenz curve that is important in analysis of income. In order for a Lorenz curve to be correct, the incomes of the family members have to be divided into fifths (Lorenz, 1905). A Lorenz curve enables analysis of data by adding the percentage value of the lowest fifth to the next higher fifth, which becomes the first point of the curve. The second point in the curve comes about through adding the first point to the middle fifth of the derived incomes. The process of plotting continues until exhaustion of all cumulative values of member incomes (Lorenz, 1905). For a perfect Lorenz curve, all members in a family would earn the same amount and the Lorenz curve would be a diagonal with the lowest point being the lower left hand corner moving progressively towards the higher right hand corner. This diagonal shows an ideal situation and it is the baseline in determining income inequality. Since not all family members receive an equal income, the Lorenz curve turns out as a curve instead of a diagonal. The area between the curve and the diagonal dictates the measure of inequality from one member of a given family to the next member (Lorenz, 1905). Income

Considering Censorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Considering Censorship - Essay Example In the subsequent parts of this essay, I would argue for considering censorship should be adopted on certain materials that endanger the moral and social values of humanity. For that purpose, first, definition of censorship is provided, it is followed by three examples- one from personal experience, one from general observation and third one is from Ian Inglis article. Censorship is defined as an act of suppressing or deleting expression that is understood objectionable on certain grounds such as moral, religious, military or religious grounds (Sweeney, 2004, pp.189).And, there are two type of censorship: state- imposed and self-imposed, for example, banning of books, governmental reviews, approval for a particular information is required before making that piece of information public. Society follows certain moral standards. These moral standards determine the entire social fabric and communication standards within the members of the society. If history is taken as an example, natio ns and societies have successfully lived on the basis of moral and social standards and their adherence in the required manner. It is the role of moral values that have ensured the existence of society till this point of time. At that time, under that society, children and younger generation was expected not to access certain material, and did not commit such actions where the rules of moral standards were violated. As a result, the entire society constantly survived throughout different times of history. However, after the inception of technology, it has become very easy for every one to access the forbidden material. For example, on the Internet, not only information but also porn images and videos are easily accessible. I strongly believe that such access must be censored and younger generation must not be allowed to access that. Why do I believe so? If we see, in many nations and in many countries, the rate of crime, rape, sexual assault, harassment, and even murder have hugely increased in the recent history. Each year, rape, sexual assault and other crimes are constantly increasing, and in stead of decreasing, each year data touches new levels. The fundamental cause behind this situation is provided by frustration in the younger generation over the issue of sex and crime. Additionally, the constant display of violence in movies and dramas has added fuel to the fire. Once I was studying a report of a Non-Governmental Organization over the causes of rape. In which, a rape case was reported and a teenager raped a girl. The report further explains that the NGO interviewed the victim and that rapist teenager. The teenager informed that he was returning from the gathering of his friends’ house where we had watched an adult movie, while on the way home; I could not control my self and raped that girl. Additionally, the world faces new kind of terrorism and violence after the events of 9/11. The information access has been a key in this regard. Currently, in many countries there are an on-going military operations against the terrorists and extremists. In order to carry out their military operations, military in these areas first plan and then attack. So, such plan remains confidential until the military operation is carried out. If that information is leaked, then the success chances of that military operation would be rare. The American tradition sanctifying abstract principles of free

Human Resource and Management Essay Example for Free

Human Resource and Management Essay It is widely accepted that functions involving management include planning goals of the organization, organizing its employees so that efficiency can be achieved, leading involves employee motivation and influence, whereas control function makes sure that all other functions help bring success to the organization . Another viewpoint is that there is a fifth function which is staffing. Staffing involves the HRM department making sure that the appropriate people with valuable skills are placed on jobs (Bartol, 2004). Human resource department has become more important today as it is integrated and much more strategically involved. The HRM department sees it very important in order to be successful as an organization much effort should be put on recruitment of employees, then they should be motivated to perform their task, and trained to execute their responsibilities effectively. To built an efficient work force and maintain it on that level the HRM needs to influence employee behaviour when they seem off track. The few ways in which they can do is by organizing which includes job design/redesign, remuneration and benefits, training and development, and performance management. Job Design Job design is method which involves organizing employee tasks and giving them responsibilities. It also focuses on changing duties of employees so that job satisfaction is gained, which therefore increases efficiency. It focuses on the content of job and effect it has on employee motivation and effectiveness. If job satisfaction is achieved productivity can also be achieved, some people prefer jobs which they feel comfortable at, identifying what makes a good job for the employee can be helpful in improving performance, this can make difference on cost resulting from absenteeism and low turnover. The job fit matches characteristic of people with characteristic of jobs. A person not fitting a job can be disastrous for the company and the employee. By re-designing the job the person/job fit can be may be improved, this can affect employee motivation as the job becomes favourable for employee, catering to their need of job-related satisfaction, for example a person who does not likes to talk much may find it awkward and frustrating at a bank teller job because there he may have to interact with people all day long (Keaton, 2001). Read more:Â  Areas of Human Resources Management Business The ways to re-design a job includes job enlargement and job enrichment, this involves reducing the problems faced by the employee on job. Broadening the scope of the job by expanding the tasks to be performed may reduce the monotonous job experience, as their would be new tasks for the employee to perform, this may help influence behaviour as the employee may achieve job satisfaction and also feel more important as a part of the organization. Job enrichment deals with the employee given more responsibility then before, by adding planning, controlling and evaluating to his job function. Job enrichment may include giving the employee the entire job rather then a part of work, expanding the assignment so that the employee can learn from new tasks, moreover developing new areas of expertise. It may also include giving the employee more autonomy so that he can organize work according to his will, along with giving feedback to higher officials. The more these characteristics are in the job the more motivating it becomes. For the employees motivational value comes from job enrichment due to the feeling of employees that work is now more meaningful, due to the fact that they are more responsible for outcomes. These changes therefore satisfy the employees need for growth, work motivation, work satisfaction, and work effectiveness (Schuler, 2008). Remuneration and Benefits The HR department has also the responsibility of setting employee remuneration, which is the financial payment to employees for their work. This can be used in influencing employee behaviour, it is necessary for the organization to reward employees fairly. If the employee feels he hasn’t been rewarded well he will be de-motivated. Organizations work towards keeping their skilled employee the time, they do not want to lose employee who have worked with them and are good at what they do, also for motivating employees to be more effective and efficient at work HR department tries to best set the wages inline with the expectance of the employees. Well paid employees feel more satisfied with work and are also more willing to give something extra to the organization, in long term this can increase employee commitment and built a trusted relationship between employee and employer. The other option which the HR department uses in influencing behaviour is the benefit system. Employee benefits are does part of the process that reward in addition to cash pay. These benefits may include insurance, medical, pension schemes, a company car or loan, and paid holidays. These benefits care for personal security and needs (Armstrong, 2000). The aim of employee benefits is to contribute to a competitive reward package, also to provide tax-efficient method of remuneration. This is also to provide for the employees need and also for their request for financial help, thus demonstrating that they are part of a caring organization so in turn they can be motivated to carry out work. This also increases the commitment of employee to the organization. The benefit strategy should be directed at the goal of achieving objectives of the business by ensuring it has high quality, committed people in their ranks. A flexible benefit plan helps employee choose between two or more benefits. An employee will be more motivated if he has a say in his benefit package, this way employee can gain better appreciation for the value of benefit he is be being rewarded. Benefits can also be aligned with work, such as giving paid holidays, this can be helpful in achieving short term targets of organization (Robert, 2008). The HR department has therefore the responsibility to work out the best reward system so that employees can benefit and feel satisfied with their work effort (Armstrong, 2000). Training and Development Training and developing employees so that they can deliver their best to the organization is one of the main functions of HR department. The HR department has to continuously work towards perfecting their work force, training them so that they can adapt to the changing business environment. HR department uses training and development to bring about a permanent change in the employees behaviour. Training is defined as helping employee do their current or future work better, where as development involves acquisition of knowledge, skills, personal development, and the right attitude so that the employee is prepared for future opportunities (Bacal, 1998). Training is used in altering the behaviour of the employee in a direction that will help achieve organizational goals. Training helps employees master their present skills or acquire new skill for the execution of another job. Learning is a part of training which brings about a permanent change in employee behaviour. Before training the personal analysis should be conducted so that it could be determined who requires training and their readiness for training. For training to be successful immediate reinforcement is needed so that appropriate behaviour is learned. The learner must be awarded in ways which satisfy needs, such as pay, promotion and recognition. Standards of performance should be set for the employee, as when these standards are met the employee gets a feeling of accomplishment. The training should be meaningful and should also give employee enough time to absorb. The employee should be encouraged to practise the behaviour again and again so that he could perfect his skills. This way a permanent change is brought about in the employee’s behaviour. There are different approaches to training, which includes on-job training and behavioural modelling. On-job training is that an employee is placed in a real work situation and is showed the job and tricks of the trade by a supervisor. This method widely uses the employee’s learning capability to understand and retain the task execution. The other method is behaviour modelling. This is used in increasing interpersonal skills by observing an experienced employee. These methods help bring about a favourable response from the employee. For this training and development procedure to be successful the HR department should ensure that training is linked to business objectives so that everyone is pointed in the same direction. The training should be focused on outcomes and not activities, also allowing employees enough time to adapt. Training should be motivating so that employee expectations could be met, of providing career pathways, increasing job satisfaction and also improving job security. Employee must be shown how to acquire new competencies and what are the benefits of gaining them The HR department should ensure that not only the organizations needs are respected but also the employees and what they want to achieve, so that positive change is brought about in behaviour. Performance Management and Appraisal The HR department knows how much it costs to acquire employees and retain them as a good working unit, they want to be sure that the outlay on staff is achieving an appropriate return. For this HR departments concentrates on performance management and appraisal, which is about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication within the organization. HR department cite as a process which ensures success for everyone, valuing the effort put in by the employees and also influencing and motivating them for their hard work, they feel it helps asses the employees so that they could be rewarded fairly. This is a communication process between employees and their supervisors, which helps built a clear understanding about the job function and what the employee is expected to do. How they can work together to build, improve or sustain employee’s positive conduct. It focuses on employee’s achievement on the preset objectives and how he can bring about a change in his behaviour so that necessary results can be achieved, with continued reviewing of performance against the plans the HR department ensures that objectives are met. The process of discussing work in progress, and how employees can enhance productivity with regular feedback can help determine where the employees stand, and also assess their accomplishments. Appraising an employees job makes them aware of how a task should be executed, also giving them a degree of empowerment which is the ability to make day-to-day decisions. It also helps employees on how to enhance performance, which in turn presents a chance to the employee to develop new skills and appropriate attitude towards work. If the employee understands his duties he can act more freely within the given framework. Performance appraisal is a part of performance management, it is a judgemental process of the performance of the employee on job. It is mainly done for the employees behaviour is moulded according to the companies determined objectives (Bacal, 1999). Performance appraisal brings about favourable attitude of the employee, in the form of commitment and motivation. This is why it important to appraise employees, its importance can be identified as a development to clarify why it is essential to have an effective training program (Banfield, 2008). It is also important for reward purpose as it identifies the deserving employee to receive a reward and who should be trained to achieve high efficiency. Employee motivation is the key behind his compliance to change and this appraisal system stimulates effort to perform better. Employees can be given a legally acceptable reason for promotion or reward and also in case of discharge or transfer so that the employee can’t feel of being treated unfairly. The basic compliance to change of behaviour for an employee comes with monetary incentives, therefore this system helps identify what to pay the employee. This system also encourages communication so that a sense of trust builds between the employee and supervisor, this can be beneficial for the organization as they can work towards carefully shaping the behaviour of the employee so that needs of the organization are catered for, as the employee will respect his supervisor’s decision and will work with commitment and desire. Conclusion The employees are the most important resource of any organization, their commitment and sincerity to the organizations objectives is much sought after. The HR department’s role in this is significant as it sets a benchmark of high standards for the organizations employees. Ensuring that change in behaviour they want is achieved in manner which is acceptable to the employee. The HR department first has to identify the lacking, if it’s concerned with the job they can use job design to influence employee behaviour as an inappropriate person/job fit can be de-motivating for the employee and costly for the organization. If they feel their employees value monetary benefits more they can alter their remuneration and benefit packages according to the need of the employee to generate a feeling of importance in the employee, thus motivating them to achieve organizational goals. The HR department can also analyse the skill level and competence of the employee so that any lacking can then be corrected by employing training and development methods, thus equipping their workforce with new skills and knowledge, readying them to face the challenging business environment. Lastly HR department can use performance management to mould the behaviour of employee according to the need of the organization. With a continuous judgmental system employee motivation and work efficiency can be measured, and then rewarded accordingly. A motivated workforce is the key to any achievement for the organization, so this is what organizations should continuously strive to achieve employing the discussed techniques to influence them.

The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems

The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems To combat the limitations of RDBMS and meet the challenge of the increasing rise of the Internet and the Web, programmers developed object-oriented databases in the 1980s. The main objective of Object-Oriented Database Management Systems, commonly known as OODBMS, is to provide consistent, data independent, secure, controlled and extensible data management services to support the object-oriented model. They were created to handle big and complex data that relational databases could not. There are important characteristics involved with object-oriented databases. The most important characteristic is the joining of object-oriented programming with database technology, which provides an integrated application development system. Object-oriented programming results in 4 main characteristics: inheritances, data encapsulation, object identity, and polymorphism. Inheritance allows one to develop solutions to complex problems incrementally by defining new objects in terms of previously defined objects. Data encapsulation or simply encapsulation allows the hiding of the internal state of the objects. Encapsulated objects are those objects that can only be assessed by their methods instead of their internal states. There are three types of encapsulated objects users and developers should recognize. The first is full encapsulation, in which all the operations on objects are done through message sending and method execution. The second is write encapsulation, which is where the internal state of the object is visible only for reading operations. The third is partial encapsulation, which involves allowing direct access for reading and writing for only a part of the internal state. Object identity allows objects of the database to be independent of each other. Polymorphism and dynamic binding allow one to define operations for one object and then to share the specification of the operation with other objects. This allows users and/or programmers to compose objects to provide solutions without having to write code that is specific to each object. The language important to OODBMS is data definition and manipulation language (DDML). The use of this language allows persistent data to be created, updated, deleted, or retrieved. An OODBMS needs a computational versus a relational language because it can be used to avoid impedance mismatch. DDML allows users to define a database, including creating, altering, and dropping tables and establishing constraints. DDMLs are used to maintain and query a database, including updating, inserting, modifying, and querying data. The OODBMS has many advantages and benefits. First, object-oriented is a more natural way of thinking. Second, the defined operations of these types of systems are not dependent on the particular database application running at a given moment. Third, the data types of object-oriented databases can be extended to support complex data such as images, digital and audio/video, along with other multi-media operations. Different benefits of OODBMS are its reusability, stability, and reliability. Another benefit of OODBMS is that relationships are represented explicitly, often supporting both navigational and associative access to information. This translates to improvement in data access performance versus the relational model. Another important benefit is that users are allowed to define their own methods of access to data and how it will be represented or manipulated. The most significant benefit of the OODBMS is that these databases have extended into areas not known by the RDBMS. Medicine, multimedia, and high-energy physics are just a few of the new industries relying on object-oriented databases. As with the relational database method, object-oriented databases also have disadvantages or limitations. One disadvantage of OODBMS is that it lacks a common data model. There is also no current standard, since it is still considered to be in the development stages. Who is currently using an OODBMS to handle mission critical data? The following information was gleaned from the ODBMS Facts website. The Chicago Stock Exchange manages stock trades via a Versant ODBMS. Radio Computing Services is the worlds largest radio software company. Its product, Selector, automates the needs of the entire radio station from the music library, to the newsroom, to the sales department. RCS uses the POET ODBMS because it enabled RCS to integrate and organize various elements, regardless of data types, in a single program environment. The Objectivity/DB ODBMS is used as a data repository for system component naming, satellite mission planning data, and orbital management data deployed by Motorola in The Iridium System. The Object Store ODBMS is used in Southwest Airlines Home Gate to provide self service to travellers through the Internet. Ajou University Medical Center in South Korea uses Intersystems Cachà ¨ ODBMS to support all hospital functions including mission-critical departments such as pathology, laboratory, blood bank, pharmacy, and X-ray. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland uses an Objectivity DB. The database is currently being tested in the hundreds of terabytes at data rates up to 35 MB/second. As of November, 2000, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) stored 169 terabytes of production data using Objectivity/DB. The production data is distributed across several hundred processing nodes and over 30 on-line servers. Below is a list of advantages and disadvantages of using an OODBMS over an RDBMS with an object oriented programming language. Advantages Composite Objects and Relationships: Objects in an OODBMS can store an arbitrary number of atomic types as well as other objects. It is thus possible to have a large class which holds many medium sized classes which themselves hold many smaller classes, ad infinitum. In a relational database this has to be done either by having one huge table with lots of null fields or via a number of smaller, normalized tables which are linked via foreign keys. Having lots of smaller tables is still a problem since a join has to be performed every time one wants to query data based on the Has-a relationship between the entities. Also an object is a better model of the real world entity than the relational tuples (attributes) with regards to complex objects. The fact that an OODBMS is better suited to handling complex, interrelated data than an RDBMS means that an OODBMS can outperform an RDBMS by ten to a thousand times depending on the complexity of the data being handled. Class Hierarchy: Data in the real world is usually having hierarchical characteristics. The ever popular Employee example used in most RDBMS texts is easier to describe in an OODBMS than in an RDBMS. An Employee can be a Manager or not, this is usually done in an RDBMS by having a type identifier field or creating another table which uses foreign keys to indicate the relationship between Managers and Employees. In an OODBMS, the Employee class is simply a parent class of the Manager class. Circumventing the Need for a Query Language: A query language is not necessary for accessing data from an OODBMS unlike an RDBMS since interaction with the database is done by transparently accessing objects. It is still possible to use queries in an OODBMS however. No Impedence Mismatch: In a typical application that uses an object oriented programming language and an RDBMS, a signifcant amount of time is usually spent mapping tables to objects and back. There are also various problems that can occur when the atomic types in the database do not map cleanly to the atomic types in the programming language and vice versa. This impedance mismatch is completely avoided when using an OODBMS. No Primary Keys: The user of an RDBMS has to worry about uniquely identifying tuples by their values and making sure that no two tuples have the same primary key values to avoid error conditions. In an OODBMS, the unique identification of objects is done behind the scenes via OIDs and is completely invisible to the user. Thus there is no limitation on the values that can be stored in an object. One Data Model: A data model typically should model entities and their relationships, constraints and operations that change the states of the data in the system. With an RDBMS it is not possible to model the dynamic operations or rules that change the state of the data in the system because this is beyond the scope of the database. Thus applications that use RDBMS systems usually have an Entity Relationship diagram to model the static parts of the system and a separate model for the operations and behaviours of entities in the application. With an OODBMS there is no disconnect between the database model and the application model because the entities are just other objects in the system. An entire application can thus be comprehensively modelled in one UML diagram.

Transportation And Logistic Chain Management Essay

Transportation And Logistic Chain Management Essay Abstract Purpose: to introduce the issue of the transportation and logistics chains. Finding: outlines how the individual papers affect debate on the nature and development of transportation in the supply chain. Originality: provides a summary of the perspectives studied within the transportation in the supply chain. Introduction My research is on the transportation and logistics chains. Products are transported between different places in different stages within a supply chain. The transportation has a large impact on both responsiveness and efficiency. Faster transportation allows a supply chain to be more responsive but reduces its efficiency within a supply chain (Chopra Meindle, 2007, p.53). Transportation has a significant impact, because it controls the speed of response and reply as stated in Newtons third law of every action there is always opposed an equal reaction. An example of Amazon is a company that sells products on the internet and uses UPS or FedEx, which is a transportation company that delivers products to customers. This is an example of transportation within a supply chain. In logistic today wrote article for Rosenau transportation gains real time visibility to customers. This article about Rosenau found solution to assistance improve dispatch, routing and customer service to provide re al time visibility to its customers, and reducing operating costs by making more stops in fewer miles. They also focused on improving the information it provides to its customers on delivery, pickup status, at same time correcting the efficiency and productivity of dispatchers and costumer service reps. Shortly it will be executing an advanced route optimization solution to reduce the miles driven, and fuel used and thus reduce the carriers environmental impact. (Rosenau Transport Gains Real-Time, 2009) According to, Sreenivas and Srinivas, due to the trend of nationalization and globalization in recent decades, logistics has advanced greatly since the 1950s and is still growing in various areas. Logistics has improved industries by optimizing production and distribution processes based on new management techniques that enhance efficiency and capacity competitiveness of enterprises (Sreenivas Srinivas). All companies seeking to expand their businesses to contribute in advancing the growth of sales as well as improve the methods to include all customers in various geographical regions, both by the high population growth or moderate. However, globalization has changed everything so that the companies paid to spend more money on transportation to reduce the time to ensure the delivery of products to the consumer of course, besides compliance with new government regulations. A factor that has made these companies to improve performance is the technology information, transportation, and logistics solutions. They have contributed to the mobilization of the stock of companies to enable them to obtain goods shortly as well as the right of access to customers; also, the right place at the right time along with it is likely that you will get a sale and delivery while reducing costs and enhance its services to avoid delays and fines. All companies operating in this area and for global programs with logistics, which includes transport and logistics functions only on the implementation of orders from inception to delivery of this position to gain visibility at home and abroad for the supply chain as well as lower costs and improve customer service. That all these components to ensure the quality of the application must examine the following possibilities: Transportation planning, transportation procurement, route planning, transportation management, small parcel shipping, and international trade logistics (infor). The important point in a logistic chain is the transportation that connects the separated activities. Transportation is jointing between stages in the supply chain. In other words, it is the way to move product from manufacturing to the final consumers and vice versa. This research focused on: Development of logistic The role of transportation in supply chain Modes of transportation Transportation infrastructure and policies Discussions and conclusions Development of logistic Definition Part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers requirements. (Sreenivas Srinivas). In other words, the process connects all of the means of providing raw materials to, from the company, and to suppliers of transmission products. It depends more on the provision of logistics from raw materials to the network such as the transfer process, material handling from the beginning to the end of production and the sale, disposal of waste, and add customer to increase the competitiveness of the market. In general, the optimum utilization of investigative meet the demands of customers of any goods or services must provide the information to provide that service in addition to benefiting from the network to meet customer requirements in a timely manner. Either, Council of Logistics Management (1991) defined that logistics is part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers requirements. Johnson and Wood is definition (cited in Tilanus, 1997) uses five important key terms, which are logistics, inbound logistics, materials management, physical distribution, and supply-chain management, to interpret. Logistics describes the entire process of materials and products moving into, through, and out of firm. Inbound logistics covers the movement of material received from suppliers. Materials management describes the movement of materials and components within a firm. Physical distribution refers to the movement of goods outward from the end of the assembly line to the customer. Finally, supply-chain management is somewhat larger than logistics, and it links logistics more directly with the users total communications network and with the firms engineering staff (YUE, TSENG, TAYLOR, 2005) The role of transportation in supply chain I mentioned in the beginning of my papers the transportation is referring to the movement of any product from one location to another. Transport refers to the movement of products from one place to another and that the beginning of the supply chain in dealing with customers. Where is the new vision and wide in the work of transport, including supply chain management and logistics, and procurement. The cost of shipping and transport, for example, arrived in shipping and transport costs in the United States almost 6% of gross domestic product. Many manufacturers and retailers were able to use the state in managing the supply chain to reduce inventory and storage costs, with the possibility of delivery to the client quickly. Any successful supply chain linked to the use of a large and adequate transportation. For example, Wal-Mart has been used effectively respond to the transportation system to reduce overall costs. In developing countries, Wal-Mart is running across the docking, a process in the product that is exchanged between the trucks so that each truck to go to a retail store and product suppliers a different form. At the same time, the exponential growth in shipment from China to create opportunities for bottlenecks on both. That is where many leading companies that having invested in the purchase of large offices in China, India, and elsewhere. From this point shows that are two keys players in any means of transport that takes place within the supply chain. Shipper is the party, which requires the movement of product between two points in the supply chain. Carrier is the party who moves or transports the product. For example, when Dell uses UPS to ship the computers from the factory to the customer, Dell is the shipper and UPS is the carrier. Transportation in supply chain cost Chopra and Meindle stated for two kinds of transportation cost: Inbound transportation costs are the costs that included the bringing material into a facility. Outbound transportation costs are the costs that sending material out of a facility. The relationship between both is the outbound transportation cost per unit is higher than inbound costs because the inbound is typically larger. (Chopra Meindle, 2007,p78). They also mintioned increasing the number of facilities can decrease total transportation cost, which refer to the figure Modes of transportation The supply chains follow combination modes of transportation following: Air fright logistic (air) Airfreight logistics is very important in industries and services to complete the supply chain and functions. Where they provide with the speed of delivery, as well as a reduced risk of damage, security, flexibility and ease of access to good views of the ordinary, but the disadvantage is the high courier fees. Reynolds, Feighan (2001) and said air cargo logistics is selected when the value per unit weight and relatively high speed of delivery is an important factor. The properties of airfreight logistics in the following: (1) aircraft, airports and separated. Therefore, the industries only need to prepare aircraft for its operation. (2) it allows for faster delivery in long-haul destinations. (3) air freight transport is not affected by the terrain. The data indicate that the transport of goods in the market continues to grow. There is a view of the directions of global markets and logistics and air cargo also to change their services. Future directions for the development of airfreight, and integration with other transport modes, and the internationalization of the coalition, and the integration of the airlines and the pattern of the future of logistics, and air freight to cooperate with other modes of transport. Such as sea and land transport, to provide service on the base just in time, and transport from door to door. (YUE, TSENG, TAYLOR, 2005) Land logistic (truck, rail, water, and pipeline) Land logistics is considered very important in the logistics activities. They are providing services for air transport and maritime transport from airports and ports. Additional logistical capacity, the positive ground is the high-level access in the wild. The major means of transport logistics land transport by rail, road transport and pipeline transport. For rail transport to and comparative jeopardy of high endurance capacity, the less the impact of climatic conditions, and low power consumption, but that the disadvantages of high cost of basic facilities and the difficulty in the cost of maintenance, with the lack of flexibility of the pressing demands, and time-consuming in the organization of railroad cars. As for the transfer of land, he has the advantages of investment funds cheaper, and ease of access is high, and the mobility and availability. On the other hand, Disadvantages, low capacity, low and safety, and slow. The advantages of pipeline transportation of high capacity, less the impact of climatic conditions, and cheaper the process of drawing, and the continuation of the means of transport; disadvantages of costly infrastructure and the difficulty of control, goods, specialization, and needs regular maintenance. The excessive use of road transport also brings many problems, such as traffic congestion, pollution and traffic accidents. In the future, to improve road transport in the transport efficiency and reliability, a revolution in the field of transport policy and management is required, for example, pricing. (YUE, TSENG, TAYLOR, 2005) Package carriers Package carriers are transportation copmanies such as FedEx, The United States Postal Service (USPS), and the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), The package can be small because the backage cariers use air and should weight about 150 pounds, also package carriers are expensive and cannot compete with less than truckload carriers on price for large shipments. Thus, shippers use package carriers for small and time sensitive shipments. Package carriers also pickup the package from the source and deliver it to the destination site. With an increase in just in time (JIT) deliveries and focus on inventory reduction, demand for package carriers has grown. (Chopra Meindle, 2007. P389) For example, the goal of DHL is nothing less than to transform the logistics industry and to deliver beyond our customers expectations wherever and whenever they need us by offering the most comprehensive suite of services and becoming the only genuine one-stop source for logistics solutions, globally. The supply chain in package carrier for DHL express is the flow of goods, within information and finance. It starts by sourcing raw materials which content semi-finished goods, that are scheduled and transported into factories to be made into finished products (see Diagram up). Then pass through warehouses or distribution centres and are delivered to retailers, wholesalers or direct to consumers homes or business premises. Finally, aftermarket activities involve the maintenance and repair, or the return and recycling, of products at the end of their life. Supply chain planning optimises overall flows and inventories, by balancing resources with demand at all stages. (DHL) Transportation infrastructure and policies The transportation is infrastructure that means roads, seaports, airports, rail, and canal. All these exist along nodes and links of transportation network. All countries are taken responsibility a significant role in building and managing these infrastructure elements. The transportation and infrastructure focuses on operational and policy issues within transportation and infrastructure areas that affect logistics operations. Discussions How can quickly deliver products to consumers with a common consensus on the control operators? That the integration of logistics services and e-business is the current trend is currently in some companies. In order to obtain position that is more beneficial and building a complementary relationship, which is its reliance on networks and industries, such as Yahoo and E-Bay, and often cooperate with the logistics industry. Integration can reduce the middle-level procedures. For example, producers can immediately provide products to more customers of the station. To reduce costs by more efficiently. Besides, companies do not have to take inventory and warehouse costs only, and therefore it becomes a modern industry of the lower cost and more efficient division of specialization. For example, customers can obtain an order of goods shops. Through E-logistics, and the state of competition in industries could be promoted in the knowledge economy. Moreover, to promote business activities should include transport systems in various stages. The integration between different applications is to provide comfort through the promotion of the system of information flow and business processes. For consumers and businesses can make more efficient and easier than through the assistance of e-commerce and the Internet. With physical delivery, still rely on the transportation system to end processes. The cost of transport may be one-third of the cost of logistics. At the same time, transport systems and techniques required in almost every activity of logistics services. And therefore the reform of patterns of business for consideration in transport systems. Conclusion I have tried to cover papers on the part of the scope of logistics activities of transportation systems and attempts to determine the role of transport in transport systems and logistics. Knowing that is the most of the major contents of the research include a review of the development of logistics services, operations and personalities from different transport activities, logistics, and logistics applications in various fields, and logistics city, and the future direction in the development of logistics services, and cooperation with the transport regulations. To summarize, logistics, transport, and some importance in the supply chain must be. First, the transport system and supply have a more and more important in our society. Next, transport and transport systems, logistics and interrelationships that the needs of logistics management and transportation of the implementation of its activities at the same time, it can be to the success of the transport system and supply help to improve traffic and transport, environment and development. Third, as it contributes the highest transport costs among the relevant elements of logistics systems, and improve the efficiency of transport can alter the overall performance of the transportation system and supply. Final, play and transport an important role in the logistics system and activities appear in the various sections of logistics services. Without linking transportation and logistics, services cannot be a powerful strategy to bring its full play. Review of the Transport and Logistics in a broad sense may help to integrate the benefits of different applications of cases to overcome the disadvantages of the present. On the other hand, Review of the transport systems and provides a clear idea on the applications in transportation logistics. The development of logistics services will still be active in the following decades and logistics that can be applied in other areas.

Essay --

Raluca is from Bucharest, Romania. At the age of seven, her family had a computer, a library, and more than a majority of the time, quality food to eat. Raluca’s parents believed in order for her to succeed in the free market economy, education was critical. Throughout the film, it was evident that Romania was a work in progress due to it’s transition to capitalism. Raluca commuted everyday to a public school in a wealthy neighborhood where she received an advanced curriculum of French, Science, and Humanities. Raluca’s future looked promising, as a high school diploma was not enough to provide financial security. At the age of thirteen, Raluca had access to computers and the Internet considering her country valued education. In fourth grade, Raluca continued to receive a high-quality education and an advanced curriculum in Bucharest. In order to stay in a superior school, Raluca had to do well on extremely difficult exams at the end of fourth grade. In Romania, during 2003, the structure of the education system was, to an extent, hard to understand. The various schooling system consisted of pre-school education, primary school, lower secondary school, high school, vocational school, apprentice school, long-term higher education, short-term education, post secondary school, and post graduate school. Children entered pre-school education between the ages of three and six. At the age of six, the child entered primary education, which was the first four years of compulsory education. According to the 2003 amendment to the Education law, children entered school at the age of six. However, children had the option to begin their compulsory education at the age of seven at the family’s request or before the age of six if ... ...a implemented a three-cycle structure, with completion in a minimum of ten years. Romania, overtime, began the process of educational reform. Since this occurred, the population of student growth in schools increased dramatically. Resources for education also improved overall, with the adoption of new curriculum. However, the Romanian education system was slow to change due to efforts and budgets were limited. As a future educator, I would thoroughly enjoy working in Romanian schools. Even though the resources and technologies may not be available, student objectives and curriculum are in place, ensuring student success. A quote from an unknown source reads, â€Å"The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.† From my point of view, as long as the student feels safe and comfortable, while having the will and motivation to learn, anything can happen.

Night :: essays research papers

Night The Halocaust, a horrible time for the world. Just as any war is. War is the single most destructive thing our world has. It can take the lives of millions of people in just a few seconds.War however may seem bad from the perspective of many people, but it is even worse from the perspective of a single person. A boy for instance, trapped between two opposing forces. Elie for example has lived through this. A boy of only 15, how much he has suffered through. During the course of the book Night it is obvious that Elie lost faith in his god. "For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless his name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Poerful and terrible, was silent. what had I to thank him for?" (31). This is Elie's first sign of losing faith. In his mind he wondered how a god, so great and wonderful hasn't helped out his people, But rather let them see how cruel people can be. Elie said this after he had witnessed babies sent to their doom in a pit of fire. How could he not ask his god why he hasn't done anything. A boy of 15 years old should not witness this, nor should anyone witness these acts of hatred. "Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever." (32) From that moment on, Elie had no reason to believe in God. The flames which Madame Schachter had spoke about on the train. If only they realized it sooner. God, the most important role in human civilization was going to let the slaughter of innocent people go on in his world. Many people lost faith during this time. The sight of someone being beaten infront of you, but knowing that if you help, it'll be even worse for you. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things even if I am condemmed to live as long as God Himself, forever. Never. (32) Something so powerful it could murder a once very religous boy's faith forever. He would never be able to turn back like he once did, to ask God "Why?". God lives